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Skies clear as United comes in from cold

BOSTON — United Airlines is set to come out of bankruptcy protection this week after 37 months of slashing jobs, debt and pensions, the best evidence yet that the global aviation industry has battled through its post-Sept. 11 crisis.

Although Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines still face tough restructuring proceedings, the fact that United, the world's second-largest airline, after American, has survived and innovated during bankruptcy gives hope, more than four years after the airplane hijackings and terror attacks of September 2001, that the U.S. airline sector's worst days are behind it, industry executives say.

It is also good news for consumers and business travelers. "It's one more competitor that's staying in the marketplace, and that tends to keep fares down," said Daniel Kasper, aviation analyst with LECG, a consulting firm.

Terry Trippler, who runs the travel Web site CheapSeats.com, said that the impact on prices "is tough to predict" but added that a revitalized United could set a higher industry standard for service and amenities.

Even in bankruptcy, United has largely resisted industrywide pressures to economize on small items like snacks and pillows and to squeeze more seats into its jets.

"We've really hit bottom on amenities," Trippler said. "Once United is out, I think everybody will look at them differently. "

United filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2001, three months after two of its jets were hijacked in the terror attacks in New York and at the Pentagon. It was among the biggest bankruptcy cases in U.S. history. To get back to solvency, United's measures have included cutting 26,000 jobs, canceling pensions and parking 100 planes. It expects to leave Chapter 11 bankruptcy-law protection on Wednesday.

But United has also done some growing. In late 2004, it started a premium service, offering flights connecting New York with San Francisco and Los Angeles in Boeing 757s with 110 seats - half the usual number - and offering abundant extra leg room, special meals and Champagne cocktails, for fares as high as $4,500 round-trip in first class.

Jack O'Neill, the chief operating officer of the business travel consultants Carlson Wagonlit Travel, said that frequent business travelers had raved about the service, especially on overnight flights, and that many hope United will expand it to other routes.

Several frequent United fliers said they did not expect to see major changes in a post-bankruptcy United.

"I've just never had a bad experience with them," said Donald Martin, an executive with Raytheon who often flies United to Tokyo and other cities in Asia.

O'Neill at Carlson Wagonlit agreed that, with so many airlines having been through bankruptcy since 2001, an airline entering or leaving Chapter 11 does not seem to make a huge impression on travelers anymore.

"People have just accepted it as a condition of that industry," O'Neill said. "It's not as big a deal to travelers as worrying about security lines, or whether there's going to be cellphone use allowed in flight."